And in a sidelight inside the main event, Unser Sr. claimed the CART national driving championship, finishing just one point ahead of his 23-year- old son, Al.

Although Al Jr. finished third and Al Sr. fourth, dad held a three-point cushion over his son heading into the season finale. Unser Sr., who had to finish no more than one place behind Unser Jr. to claim the title, put on a mad dash in the final laps to secure his position.

''I have mixed emotions,'' said Unser Sr., 46, the oldest racer to claim the points title. ''It was hard. I would have liked Little Al to win. Championships are so hard to come by, but I couldn't back off. I didn't teach him to back off, so I couldn't.''

It also was quite a day for famed car owner Roger Penske, who got double his money's worth. Both Sullivan and Unser are members of famed Penske team. They brought home more than $380,000 -- with Al Sr. earning $300,000 with his points title.

Unser Sr. finished ninth overall in 1984 and started this season as a part- time driver for the Penske Racing Team, with commitments only for the three 500-mile races as a teammate of Sullivan and Rick Mears.

But Mears began the season recuperating from serious foot and leg injuries sustained late the previous year, and team owner Penske asked Unser to substitute for a while.

In the third race of the year, in June at Milwaukee, Unser drove the pace car, and Mears drove the race car. But Mears still was unable to drive the road courses, so Unser was called upon again.

''Rick just stepped aside for me,'' said the elder Unser. ''Without him, I wouldn't be up here today. If he ever asks anything of me, he's got it. I owe him a lot.''

A crowd of more than 50,000 turned out on a sun-kissed day to watch the Indy cars compete on the newly built track.

Sullivan, 35, took the lead for the first time on the 79th lap of the 112-lap race. He never looked back in his March 85C C, averaging 95.915 miles per hour to earn $57,634.

Jan Lammers had taken the lead when Rahal made a pit stop on lap 73. He and Sullivan pitted six laps later, with Sullivan coming out first, Lammers second and Rahal third.

Sullivan's pit stop: 15.36 seconds. ''We changed all the tires,'' he said. ''We came in second and left in first. Everything went like clockwork.''

Sullivan and Lammers approached two slower cars on lap 82. Lammers decided to make a move but hit some oil and spun out. Sullivan, who spun out en route to his Indy 500 victory, was home free.

Rahal tried to catch him but couldn't because his car was oversteering, causing the rear tires to blister.

Rahal had led 70 of the first 73 laps, losing the lead only briefly to Bruno Giacomelli.

''As long as we had a 3-4 second lead there was no problem,'' he said. ''But then after that last pit stop, the tires went away in 10 laps, and I knew I couldn't catch him Sullivan. Second place was better than putting the car into the wall.''

Which is what several other drivers did in a demolition derby that left only 10 of the 28 starters running at the end. Eight cars were pushed off after being involved in accidents.

The race got off to a flying stop.

A three-car crackup not 100 yards from the start-finish line knocked out contenders Mario Andretti, Andretti's son, Michael, Emerson Fittipaldi and Kevin Cogan. None of the drivers were injured.

''There were too many of us going for the same hole,'' Mario said. ''It became a bottleneck. There was no place to go.''

Only one driver, Jim Crawford, who crashed on lap 50, had to be treated at the track hospital for dizziness.

The Unsers were no threat in the race.

Al Sr. never dropped lower than eighth, but didn't have the points championship wrapped up until he passed Roberto Moreno of Brazil on lap 108. Unser Sr. said he was fully aware he had to pass Moreno to finish behind Al Jr. for the points title. ''I was aware. If you had the oportunity to listen to Mr. Penske on the radio, you would know. He said, 'You better get going,' and when the boss says get going, you go.''

Unser Sr. said he knew once he got around Moreno in turn two ''I couldn't make any mistakes.''